RETIRED nursery rhyme characters have described this attempt by the bull to sue a china shop owner after it was injured during a rampage, as “unbelievebale” and “ludicrous”.

The bull, 7, was rampaging through the ‘Potty about Pots’ in Thetford last August. It claims to have injured its head and legs when displays and crockery fell on it.

A letter from its lawyers ‘The Brothers Grimm’ claims the shop owner Mr Potts the Potter, 50, was at fault for failing to ensure the bull was “reasonably safe”, making no attempt to light the area adequately or warn it about the unsteady shelving, and the possibility of cuts from broken shards.

Last night, retired couple Jack and Jill criticised the bull for "giving story book characters a bad name”. One of them, The Pied Piper, 63, asked if the bull had carried out a full dynamic risk assessment before embarking on its rampage.

He said he was amazed and baffled that the claim had got as far as it had. He went on, "I have been retired for eight years now but during my 130 years in stories, working in places such as caves, and near fast flowing rivers, I was assaulted by village people (not the pop group), bitten by rats, scratched by children and kicked by wild and domestic animals.

Jack added “ I fell down a hill, in the pitch dark and broke my crown, and Jill came tumbling after. There were no warning signs about the slope or the well, despite a previous accident involving a cat at the site some months previous."

“We didn’t even have stab-proof vests or helmets in those days, but everything was in the line of duty and not once did it ever occur to us that we could claim against anyone. Even when we couldn’t afford proper medical assistance and had to resort to vinegar and brown paper!”

Mr Hans Christian Anderson, said, “I the light of the negative press it isn’t surprising children are turning away from tradition tales, and finding their amusement in ‘Angry Bird’ computer games and ‘Pokemon ‘ cards. We want children to feel it is a good idea to pick up a book and read without the fear that the resolution, or denoument will involve long, complicated legal arguments in which only the lawyers win.”